CORRESPONDENCE. 419 



claimant in the Circle of the Seasons* in the person of " St. Veronica, Virgin 

 of Milan, A. D. 1497," whose festival occurs on Jan. 13, and under that date 

 we are informed that " the Wall Speedwell being in some early years in flower 

 on this day, it would seem as if it had been so called after the saint above re- 

 corded. Indeed, the monks, friars, and vestals, of the religious ages, being our 

 first British botanists, the names of most popular plants then known have re- 

 ceived religious names ; but whether Veronica be or be not an exception to this 

 mode of origin of names we cannot quite determine." So that, after all, the claim 

 of the " Virgin of Milan " appears but slender, although we are further edified 

 by the statement that " she exhibited a wonderful example of austerity and vigi- 

 lance, and was said to be a living model of the rule of her order." In Retd's 

 Historical and Literary Botany a third claimant to the honour of being repre- 

 sented by our blue-eyed plant is made in favour of Verron, who, it appears, 

 accompanied Commerson the botanist round the world, and who, it is said, 

 named this genus in memory of his friend. But as Commerson died in 1773, 

 this must be a mistake, the similarity of the name having probably misled the 

 editor of the work in question, for " the maid of Milan " had established her 

 right long before this time. Some other plant must, therefore, have been in- 

 tended by Commerson to record his friend Verron. Sir W. J. Hooker, in his 

 British Flora, says the name Veronica is of " doubtful origin." Hoffman, how- 

 ever, as quoted in Phillips's Flora Historica, derives it from Qtponxw, meaning 

 ftpu to bring, mm victory, " because it was said to bear the bell among plants." 

 This observation is re-echoed in Withering's Botany, where it is particularly 

 urged, that "in Veronica the ni is to be the accented syllable, and not the ro, which 

 is a common error." No doubt the English name Speedwell refers to the u great 

 vertues " as old Gerarde has it, attributable " to the same," but this same speed 

 being prejudicial to modern practice,its qualities are now voted " insignificant " by 

 the faculty, according to the dictum of Sir J. E. Smith, though the French 

 name — " The d' Europe" seems to speak something in its praise. Having, 

 as you must admit, thus given abundant scope for choice as to the origin 

 of the name Veronica, I shall now, by way of a wind up, produce a solu- 

 tion of my own, which I need hardly say / believe to be the best ! Discarding, 

 therefore, the princesses and virgins, I consider the word compounded of ver, 

 spring-time, and onychinus, of a purple colour. This, if literally translated, 

 would give us the appropriate appellation of Spring-purple, and there are many 

 worse names. In this case, of course, the accent must be on the second syllable, 

 Veronica, and not on the i, in which way, in fact, I have always heard it pro- 



• Edited, 1 believe, by Mr. Forstbr, author of the Encyclopedia of Natural Phenomena, 



